Month: August 2016

ThinkProgress:

National Geographic Channel will premiere Season 2 of the critically-acclaimed TV series, “Years of Living Dangerously” Sunday, October 30 at 8 pm (ET).

The focus of Episode 1, with correspondents David Letterman (!) and Cecily Strong (of “Saturday Night Live”), is solar energy — in India and the United States. Later episodes feature Jack Black, Gisele Bündchen, Ty Burrell, James Cameron, Don Cheadle, America Ferrera, Thomas Friedman, Joshua Jackson, Aasif Mandvi, Nikki Reed, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ian Somerhalder, Sigourney Weaver and Bradley Whitford.

Three facts elevate this above the typical TV premiere announcement:

1. “Years” is the first documentary series devoted to climate change ever to appear on a major network or premium cable.
2. “New Season Scheduled to Air Just Over a Week Before the Presidential Election,” as the National Geographic Channel (NGC) release proclaims in its sub-head.
3. NGC’s majority owner (73 percent) is 21st Century Fox, part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, which is well known for its climate disinformation.

Last fall, many people expressed concern about how science and climate coverage would be treated when National Geographic Society expanded its long-standing partnership with Fox to include National Geographic magazine and its online media platforms in a $725 million deal. After all, there is so little climate or clean energy programming on any major TV channel, the U.S. media in general have under-reported the story of the century, and, as we ourselves have reported over the years, “Watching Fox News Addicts Viewers And Misinforms Them On Climate Change.”

Having already seen the footage for the early episodes of Season 2 (in my role as Chief Science Advisor), I can personally attest that this season’s science-driven episodes are every bit as blunt about the urgent nature of the climate crisis as Season 1 was. And this time around we have even more material on the necessary solutions, from aggressive deployment of clean energy to a price on carbon.

Continue reading “New ‘Years of Living Dangerously” Season Expands Reach on (Murdoch owned) NatGeo”

For those of you who helped out with funding Dark Snow Field Campaign 2016, just an update on what you helped support, and a hint at what’s coming in future posts and videos.

I’m getting back up to speed, and currently working on a new “This is Not Cool” video, but in the background trying to organize the wealth of new material gathered during June and July.
This year’s trip was a unique opportunity to sample a cross section of Greenland ice, science, and society. In coming months you’ll be seeing the fruits of that very intensive labor.

I spoke to and traveled with scientists from two major scientific efforts, the fantastic UCLA team that is measuring ice melt, and the Black and Bloom group from the UK which is applying major resources and manpower to the original Dark Snow question – what is making the ice sheet darker, and how will that affect us?

Over the course of many hours and many conversations, what emerges is a much more detailed, and surprising – to say the least, set of questions as to how water is moving on,in,under and off, the Greenland ice – a topic of critical importance in projecting sea level in the near future and beyond.

Continue reading “Coming Attractions: Dark Snow 2016”

Craig Morris is the most relevant and reliable reporter on the German Energy Transition.

Energytransition:

Recently, I had dinner with a group of North Americans who had come to Berlin to see what they could learn from the German energy transition. A Canadian expressed his concern that “Germany has hundreds of thousands of people who cannot pay their power bills.”

“The exact number is around 350,000,” I answered, “and we know this because the country’s Network Agency publishes the figure every year.” I then asked the group whether that number was high or low. For instance, how many households in Canada or the US had their power cut off for failing to pay the bills?

No one knew.

As we pondered the irony of energy experts not knowing statistics about their own countries that they know about Germany, I put the numbers into context. “That’s 0.9 percent of the 39.9 million households in Germany.” Still, how does that performance stack up internationally?

The visitors to Germany did not know because other countries don’t always publish their statistics. Whenever the US press reports on such matters, we get a hodgepodge of numbers from particular utilities. Usually, we are only provided with the number of households affected (such as 70,000 in Memphis over eight months) without any indication of the percentage. Another example: 91,000 households in Iowa (equivalent to seven percent of all households in the state) received disconnection notices in the fall of 2015. There are no statistics on “energy poverty” for the US as a whole.

Judging from this article, Canada does not collect official statistics either (but please drop us a link in the comment box below if you know better). We simply know that a bank survey of Canadian households with incomes of at least 50,000 CAD found that 40 percent had trouble paying their monthly energy bills at least once in 2014. That’s not the same as having your power disconnected, of course, but the numbers tally roughly with Australia as well—and again, the statistics are based on a survey, not official government data.

The best comparison I know of is from Eurostat, (above) and it makes Germany look quite good indeed. Here, we see the number of households unable to pay monthly energy bills (not just electricity) on time. The US protects its poor less, with utility firms sometimes cutting people off when they are only 30 dollars behind—and then charging hefty sums for re-connections, up to five times more than in Germany. Furthermore, while prices may be higher in Germany, bills are not necessarily, because North Americans consume so much energy.

Continue reading “Germany and the “Energy Poverty” Crock”

Recent news from the campaign trail underlines Climate denier’s light-hearted approach to character assassination, intimidation, and threats.

Discover:

In a comment on an August 3rd post at the Wattsupwiththat website, Patrick J. Michaels of the conservative Cato Institute said that there has been a “hit list” apparently targeting climate scientists, and that he had influence over who was on it.

At this point, it is unclear exactly what this list was about. But from what Michaels said, it looks like it consisted of scientists being targeted for termination from their jobs.

|Note: See the update below about an effort by ExxonMobil in 2001 to get the Bush Administration to oust Robert T. Watson as chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |

Considering the salience of global warming in the presidential election, and the unsettling nature of these comments, I decided to depart from my usual coverage of the science of our planet here at ImaGeo and try to shine a light on this.

Michaels, past president of the American Association of State Climatologists, and current Director of Cato’s Center for the Study of Science, is one of the most highly quoted doubters of mainstream science on climate change.

The Wattsupwiththat post to which Michaels responded concerned an announcement that Thomas Karl, director of the National Centers for Environmental Information, was retiring. NCEI is the part of NOAA that releases monthly updates on the global climate.

The post by Anthony Watts at the Wattsupwiththat website did little more than reproduce a copy of the press release announcing Karl’s retirement. Then, on Aug. 4th, Michaels wrote his response in the comments section of the post. Rhetorically addressing Karl, Michaels said:

I saved your job in 2000. You were on a hit list and I had you taken off because I thought you were a straight shooter. Seven months later what is detailed above happened.

Continue reading “Hit Lists and Harrassment: Right Wing Targets Climate Science”

While  climate deniers in the US and elsewhere seek to stop solar energy at every turn, smart entrepeneurs in China and other emerging economies see the potential, and are acting.

Climate Reality:

Huang Ming, founder and CEO of Himin Solar Energy, is known as the “Solar King” of China. A former oil industry engineer, Huang made a life-changing decision to begin his company when his daughter was born: “I worried about there being no blue skies for her to see, so I changed my thinking from oil to solar power.”

When Huang started Himin Solar Energy, he had a dream of making it the Silicon Valley of solar energy. The company began to grow quickly – so quickly Huang didn’t realize its profits were doubling each year, helping China become the world’s largest consumer of solar energy.

Himin’s corporate headquarters are in Dezhou, a city that’s leading the way for renewable energy in China. Dezhou has 124 miles (200 kilometers) of roads with solar-powered streetlights and 90 percent of the buildings use solar water heaters. Himin Solar Energy is helping drive the creation of this solar-powered infrastructure in part by manufacturing 3 million solar water heaters a year, which Dezhou and other cities in China have purchased. These solar water heaters alone have prevented the burning of over 200 million tons of coal over the last 20 years. But it doesn’t stop there. About 800,000 of the city’s 5.5 million residents now have careers in the solar industry – and Huang Ming’s dream is beginning to come true.

Let’s face it: China is ahead of the game when it comes to solar. The nation produced 64 percent of the world’s solar energy in 2013 and currently invests more in solar than any other country. It’s time for the rest of the world to catch up so we can create the global clean energy economy we need to stop climate change and thrive into the future.

Meanwhile, in the US: Continue reading “Video: China’s Solar King”

A fair question, I think.

Carbon Brief:

Rising sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic are likely to be behind a recent surge in cases of diarrheal diseases from marine bacteria in northern Europe and the US east coast, a new study says.

In their analysis that goes back to 1958, the researchers show that levels of Vibrio bacteria – which can cause illness in humans and even death – have been increasing as sea surface temperatures rise.

Further ocean warming as a result of climate change could exacerbate this spread of marine bacteria, the researchers say, potentially bringing more human infections in future.

Marine bacteria

There are around 110 different types of Vibrio bacteria floating around in our oceans. They are typically found in warm, slightly salty coastal waters and river estuaries.

Some of these bacteria cause sickness in people and animals. Humans pick them up by consuming water or seafood that carries the bacteria, or through cuts in the skin when swimming.

The most well-known Vibrio is cholera, a diarrhoeal disease that can cause severe dehydration and death if not treated.

This study considers other strains of Vibrio bacteria, such as Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which cause similar, though usually less severe, symptoms. These types of illness are known collectively as “vibrosis”, which can lead to complications, such as blood poisoning.

Previous research has linked outbreaks of Vibrio infections around the world to warm sea surface temperatures. Warmer conditions mean a longer summer window for Vibrio bacteria to grow and a greater chance of their survival. This conclusion has been reached in studies of Chile, Peru, Israel and the Baltic states.

The new study, just published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says that a warming Atlantic Ocean is the main reason for an “unprecedented” number of Vibrio cases in North Atlantic countries in recent years. This includes a spate of cases contracted by swimmers during the European summer heatwave in 2006.

Continue reading “Why Do Climate Deniers Like Diarrhea?”

Yesterday a very vulnerable GOP Senate Candidate, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, publicly broke with her party in announcing she could not support Presidential nominee Donald Trump, in part because of his stand on climate change.  As this NYTimes piece from a few days ago shows, Ayotte was trying to keep up a front, but having trouble swallowing the GOP’s increasingly, let’s say,  out-of-step – denial of science.

NYTimes:

A Gallup poll in March found that 65 percent of Americans believed that climate change was caused by human activity, an increase of 10 points from a year earlier. The poll found that 38 percent of Republicans believed the same thing, an increase of four points from a year earlier. The poll also found that 76 percent of Americans ages 18 to 29 accepted that human activity is behind climate change.

Some Republican strategists say they are concerned that Mr. Trump’s views on the issue could push younger voters away from the party for the long term, much as they fear that his immigration policies and remarks about women could alienate Hispanics and female voters.

“It’s important for Republican candidates to talk about the issue intelligently and not be dismissive of climate change,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster. He worked for the presidential campaign of Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and now works for an advocacy group backing Mr. Rubio’s Senate re-election campaign.

“The way you talk about climate change sends a signal to millennials about how sensitive you are to the environment,” Mr. Ayres said. “Millennials recently passed baby boomers to become the largest generation, so any party that hopes to own the future politically needs to be attractive to millennials.”

As they have on other policy issues this year, some Republican candidates are staking out positions different from Mr. Trump’s. Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, a state where voters tend to favor environmentally friendly candidates, has endorsed Mr. Trump but has broken with her party to vote to uphold the Obama administration’s climate change regulations. Her campaign website says she is “working to combat the effects of climate change.”

Christian Science Monitor:

A Gallup Poll released in March shows a dramatic nine percent increase in the number of people who attribute climate change to human causes, from 55 percent in 2015 to 64 percent in 2016. The increase has occurred across party lines, although still remains most significant in the Democratic party.

Several political strategists have remarked on how important the GOP’s climate change rhetoric will be for the future of the party, particularly when it comes to attracting Millennial voters, who recently surpassed baby boomers as the largest generation. Nearly three quarters of Americans ages 18 to 29 support stricter emissions limits of power plants, according to a 2015 study by the Pew Research Center.

“It’s important for Republican candidates to talk about the issue intelligently and not be dismissive of climate change,” Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster who worked for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign, told The New York Times. “The way you talk about climate change sends a signal to millennials about how sensitive you are to the environment.”

ThinkProgress:

Twice as many Republicans are unsure about the evidence of global warming as they were a year ago, and Donald Trump could be playing a role, finds a new survey led by University of Michigan researchers.

Some 26 percent of Republicans told researchers this spring they were unsure about global warming, up from 13 percent last year, according to the National Surveys on Energy and Environment (NSEE) report released Tuesday. Republicans are also more likely than Independent and Democrat voters to either doubt climate change or denying it altogether, according to the survey.

Continue reading “GOP: How’s that Science Denial Working for You?”

Solar Energy Industry Association:

There has never been stronger level of adoption of solar among medium and low income communities than there is today, but you might not know that reading some stories these days.

A recent Atlantic article, “Why Should Only the Wealthy Get Solar Panels?”, makes the specious contention that residential solar is “predominantly enjoyed by wealthy households.” The claim is not supported by the market facts. This issue, along with the employment of American veterans, is near and dear to me as you can see from my remarks below to the Washington Post at the Democratic National Convention. The full panel discussion is here.

“..as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns ..”  – Donald Rumsfeld

BBC:

Ninety people are undergoing hospital checks in remote northern Russia because of an anthrax outbreak that killed a boy on Monday.

Eight people are confirmed as infected with anthrax, a rare but deadly bacterial disease. It is believed to have spread from reindeer.

More than 2,300 reindeer have died in the outbreak, in the Yamalo-Nenets region of Siberia. Reindeer-herding families have been moved out.

A heatwave has fuelled the disease.

Eric Holthaus in Popular Science:

If you’re a climate scientist, what happens when your dire predictions start coming true? The ongoing anthrax outbreak in Siberia is offering us a preview: What was once considered a future theoretical possibility — a re-animated deadly bacterium emerging from the permafrost — is now a reality.

Throughout July, temperatures in northern Siberia have soared as high as 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) during what’s typically the warmest part of the year. It’s unknown exactly how the disease emerged — possibly via a thawed reindeer carcass or human remains at a crumbling, above-ground cemetery that’s typical of the region. Russia has sent troops trained for biological warfare to help establish a quarantine in what’s become the first anthrax outbreak in the region since 1941.

Continue reading “Things to Come: As Arctic Thaws, Sleeping Anthrax Awakens”

The American Meteorological Society just published a Climate Year-in-Review for 2015, featuring some great analysis, and illustrations by Glaciologist/artist Jill Pelto.   About this time in 2012, I spent several days on a Northern Cascades glacier with Jill and her Dad Mauri.

Seth Borenstein for Associated Press:

Earth’s fever got worse last year, breaking dozens of climate records, scientists said in a massive report nicknamed the annual physical for the planet.

Soon after 2015 ended, it was proclaimed the hottest on record . The new report shows the broad extent of other records and near-records on the planet’s climatic health. Those include record heat energy absorbed by the oceans and lowest groundwater storage levels globally, according to Tuesday’s report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“I think the time to call the doctor was years ago,” NOAA climate monitoring chief Deke Arndt, co-editor of the report, said in an email. “We are awash in multiple symptoms.”

The 2015 State of the Climate report examined 50 different aspects of climate , including dramatic melting of Arctic sea ice and glaciers worldwide. A dozen different nations set hottest year records, including Russia and China. South Africa had the hottest temperature ever recorded in the month of October: 119.1 degrees Fahrenheit (48.4 degrees Celsius).

Even though it was a relatively quiet hurricane year in the Atlantic, there were 36 major tropical cyclones worldwide – 15 more than average, said NOAA climate scientist Jessica Blunden, co-editor of the report published Tuesday in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

The report underlined the warnings featured from MIT’s Kerry Emanuel and others in my recent Hurricane update:

Continue reading “NOAA: The State of the Climate”